Pete Whittaker

Pete was fortunate to gain wider experience and exposure in the 1990s by touring with a couple of high-profile rock bands. The first of these was an Indie-ish melodic rock band (with a distinct folk-music influence) called The Wonder Stuff. Pete toured UK, Europe and North America with them (on and off)from 1991 to their initial disintegration in 1994.

In 1996/7, Pete was invited by another "guitar" rock band, The Catherine Wheel to perform similar touring duties as he had with The Wonder Stuff. Several very jolly north American tours ensued, but the band stopped working in 2000. Very soon afterwards, The Wonder Stuffre-formed to do a series of high-profile come-back shows and Pete was once more employed, but after a few years, the band fell out (again), and has now re-formed with a significantly different line-up, sansPete.

These periods of touring/recording gave Pete glimpses of the Music Industry that seems largely irrelevant to (or at least far more rare in) the world of jazz. Back in the 90s, major record companies were still making and spending (often wasting) vast amounts of money, though surprisingly little found its way to the musicians themselves.

Since moving to London in the late 1990s, Pete has had his backside kicked (musically and literally) by many fine jazz musicians. He will be eternally grateful to them all, and strives to learn from their talent and his own mistakes.

Some really good bands and musicians with whom Pete is/has been associated include:

The Filthy Six (2009 to present. Boogaloos and funky jazz with twist of gospel.)
John Etheridge's Blue Spirits (2005 to present. Power-trio with John Etheridge and Mark Fletcher)
Zoe Schwarz Blue Commotion (Rob Koral/Zoe Schwarz, powerful electric Blues.)
Theo Travis' Double Talk (2006 on... Jazz meets Psychedelia with a twist of Prog)
Nigel Price Organ Trio (2002? to 2014. We won "Best Ensemble" in 2010 Britsh Parliamentary Jazz Awards)
Gareth Lockrane's Grooveyard (early 2000s to 2006)
Jonny Boston Quartet (2004 to 2009)
Carl Orr (2005/6)

For more info about Pete, have a look on his website here: http://www.pete-whittaker.com/index.html